


Way to the Heart

by NeverComingHome



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: F/F, Unrequited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-16
Updated: 2013-03-16
Packaged: 2017-12-05 11:53:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/722998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverComingHome/pseuds/NeverComingHome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shay thinks she's falling in love with Dawson's cooking, Dawson thinks she's falling in love with Shay and only one of them is right.</p>
<p>Mentions the Shay/Clarice relationship, otherwise no spoilers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Way to the Heart

  
It started with Kelly Severide being an idiot and Leslie Shay having a short attention span.

“Eggs don’t expire do they?”

“What?”

Leslie wasn’t much of a video game person, but last night her new roommate had begged her to put off the house warming party so he could break in the great deal he got on a stack of street fighting ones with off the wall graphics. After unpacking she came out to find him asleep in the easy chair with the game controller in hand, snoring peacefully as a muscular girl in red boxers was round house kicked. She’d figured _why not?_ and picked up the controller.

She’d been up since four am, stopping only for coffee and pee breaks. If she was straight Kelly would’ve proposed to her without anything else to go on.

“Breakfast," he was saying now, "get our strength up for the awesome party we’re throwing here tonight. By the way no cadets allowed.”

“You were a cadet once too, ya know.”

“What’s in the past is in the past, Shay, come on.”

“Weren't you asking me something about-WHAT SON, that was a fist of fury in your solar plexus-eggs?”

“Yeah.” He cracked the last one into a bowl, gave it a cautionary sniff, and shrugged. “You want an omelet?”

~*~  
“How many people have we picked up so far who have fainted due to the effects of food poisoning?” Leslie coughed. “Sorry?”

“Fifteen.”

“Fifteen.”

Gabriela pressed an ice pack to Leslie’s forehead, turning the ambulance back towards the firehouse where she deposited Leslie on the couch. Kelly had dodged the omelet bullet thanks to a page that sent him to the firehouse, leaving Leslie to devour his share before she was called in as well.

Gabriela rifled through the cupboard in search of ingredients while Leslie groaned and turned around on the couch. She creaked an eye open when the scent was all but on top of her, the scent of spices and things probably unfit for human consumption wafting from the thermos.

“Smells gross.”

“It’ll flush everything out of your system-”

“Ew.”

“-and hydrate, you’re an EMT shut up.” Gabriela grabbed the remote and flicked on the tv, nudging her into a sitting position so she could sit down as well. “If you don’t drink it I’m telling the chief you came into work sick.”

“I didn’t know I was-”

“Drink it.”

Leslie stuck her tongue out, but was surprised to find that contrary to the smell whatever was in the thermos was delicious. Even through her muddled senses she was enveloped by the taste and could feel her insides settling. She dropped her head onto Gabriela’s shoulder.

“You’re a goddess.”

“Yeah yeah.”

She took another sip, “Yum, I knew there was a reason I was your friend.”

Gabriela opened her mouth to say something sarcastic, but the look on Leslie's face turned it into, "Any time."

 

~*~

After that Leslie figured out the mere mentioning of Kelly cooking anything was a surefire way to get an invitation to Gabriela’s place or at least a five layer sandwich stuffed into her bag before she left the firehouse to work out (which was slightly counterproductive, but there was no way in hell Leslie she was telling her that). After a while it became their thing. Leslie would come over and Gabriela would make something while they hung out, figured out their plans or waited for someone to turn up.

Once Leslie hit on some girl Kelly was interested in and was interested in him until realizing that she was interested in Leslie and promptly dumped Kelly to pursue that interest. She had the class not to pursue it with Leslie, but they’d all had a few so when Kelly started yelling she found somewhere else to be until he came to his senses.

“You should’ve just talked to him.”

“About what? Hit on girl, girl questions sexuality, goes off to get answers and neither of us end up getting laid. Business as usual.”

“He’s done it to you?”

“Oh yeah.” She took a sip of beer and leaned back against the kitchen counter. “Pro-tip: if you ask a girl if she’s Bi and she says “kind of” what she really means is “no, but I’ll make out with you until a hot guy turns up’.”

Gabriela nudged Leslie to get forks for the pasta she’d just warmed up, noting aloud that the tip didn’t really apply to her, but it was good to know. Leslie hit her forehead.

“That’s right! You’re straight.” Gabriela laughed and none too subtly pushed the beer further along the counter, away from Leslie. “Well, it explains why you’re always in the kitchen.” Gabriella’s jaw dropped and she punched Leslie’s shoulder. “Ow!”

“Ow yourself. Bite the hand that feeds much?”

“Well punch me again and I might.”

“You mean like this.” Gabriella set the forks down, gently jabbing at Leslie who let her do it for a few seconds before blocking the next one.

“Okay stop it.”

She kept at it with a smirk. “I thought you said you were going to bite me, huh, come on Slim put ‘em up.”

Leslie caught one fist then the other with a raised eyebrow. They stood like that, the silence turning into something else. Gabriela was sober and Leslie wasn’t, her gaze dropping below the other’s neckline to the light blue pajama bottoms that pooled at Gabriela's feet and cinched just below her waist, leaving a line of stomach visible between it and the white tank top. She swallowed wetting her lips as Leslie tilted forward...

and bit her nose.

“Ugh!”

“You promised me linguini, don‘t be a tease, Dawson.”

~*~  
Leslie once again found herself on her back.

“Pull it together, man, it‘s getting embarrassing. ” Kelly told her before someone kicked the soccer ball between his legs and went sprinting with it towards the goalie. Gabriela replaced him, jogging in place as the others criss-crossed the field. They’d saved a few rowdy tourists from Catalina and been offered an afternoon of beer and football. Leslie had jumped at the opportunity and showed up with black paint beneath her eyes and her favorite jersey only to realize they hadn’t meant American football.

It also turned out Leslie wasn’t so great at soccer, she was constantly tripped up whenever she attempted to race towards the goal box with her usual speed and had spent the better part of the game picking herself up from the grass.

“Your stance is too narrow. You’re used to running without anything between your feet.”

“How do you know?”

“Center forward all through high school, Antonio still coaches for the outreach program every summer. Come on.” Leslie let herself be helped up while Gabriela thought. “Let’s try something.”

Leslie was rolling her eyes hard, but indulgently let herself be turned around and prodded into a stance that didn’t make any sense.

“Hey can you guys keep it in your pants, we’re playing a game here!”

“You’re losing with or without me!” Leslie shouted back, the comment met with the laughter and agreement of the other team.

Gabriela snapped her fingers, “Come on, spread your legs.”

“If I had a dollar every time I heard that.” She winked at Gabriela over her shoulder.

“More like every time you’ve said that.”

She put one foot along the inside of Leslie’s right foot and her other on the outside of Leslie’s left and told her to walk. It was like ice skating, which she knew Leslie was familiar with, and provided just the amount of space a soccer ball would. It was more for the mind, giving her body a frame of reference when dribbling the ball.

When Matthew turned up Gabriella stepped out of the game so he could play, not minding the break since Mouch had arrived too with lawn chairs and a stereo. She sat next to him and watched Leslie fumble for a little while then pick up almost immediately. Within minutes the firehouse was in the lead and Leslie was bumping shoulders and passing around high fives.

When they brought it in for food and drinks Gabriela soon found herself with an armful of Shay.

“Guess your little experiment paid off.”

Gabriela rubbed Leslie’s back, letting go of her with a faint inexplicable blush that she blamed on the sun. “Cooking’s not all I know how to do.”

Anything Leslie was going to say was drowned out by their pagers going off.

 

~*~

Clarice left a gaping hole in Leslie no amount of pasta could fill, but for her part Gabriela did her best. Leslie had a week of vacation time and had no problem using it then. Gabriella was still saving hers up which Leslie respected, not wanting to be around people too much at first. She spent her time at the gym, bar and lying on Gabriela’s bed staring at the ceiling, wondering what she could’ve done to change things.

When she came back to work the first couple days she went home with Gabriela, claiming that every time she sat on her bed she remembered Clarice would never be there waiting for her and it was getting depressing. She had it bad and it threw Gabriela to see her so hung up over a girl. Not a woman, but a selfish girl who didn’t realize what a big deal it had been for Leslie to want to settle down. Her parents had given up on their dreams to be together and raise kids, so while they were happy Leslie had claimed she couldn’t imagine not achieving the things she wanted just because she was young and in love. The fact that she’d wanted to commit to Clarice had meant something.

Gabriella stepped out of the shower to once again find a clean apartment. She didn’t know if it was Leslie being nice or compulsive. Gabriela wasn’t messy she was just used to letting the small things pile up until her day offs when she’d do a full on clean. She'd explained it to Leslie and told her she didn't have to, but was also a little pleased that the other woman still picked up anyway. It was nice coming home to a clean house, the trash taken out, the smell of air freshener, and the sound of sports or some trashy, but hilarious reality show on the television; complete with a tall drink of water warming up her spot on the couch with her feet.

Except Leslie was a female tall drink of water and why was she even thinking something like that in the first place?

“You going to stand there all night or dig in? I think Mr. Chao gave us extra chow. You order garlic shrimp?”

“What? Yes, while you were getting our drinks.” She snapped out of it and took up her spot.

Like always Gabriela went to bed then Leslie watched the news before dropping beside her with a bounce. Only tonight instead of falling into her usual deep sleep she prodded Gabriela’s back.

“Thanks for letting me stay here.”

“Don‘t worry about it.”

“I know I’ve been acting kind of, well-"

"Pathetic?"

"Pathetic."

Gabriela laughed, “It happens to the best of us.”

Leslie groaned, stretching her arms out and getting comfy beneath the blankets. “God I need a take-home Dawson. Someone who will cook and can’t keep a house clean so I have something to do when I get bored. I’m assuming that’s why your place is always a wreck.”

Gabriela rolled her eyes, “Oh yeah, all for you babe.”

Leslie chuckled, propping herself up to kiss the side of Gabriela’s head. “Night, ‘wifey.”

It was joke, something Leslie said when Gabriela was being annoyingly domestic, but she hadn’t called her it since she started dating Clarice. She couldn’t help but let the phrase get to her. Wifey. She could sort of imagine being Leslie’s wife. One of them might have to transfer to another station, but Leslie made friends wherever she went and she was only really fond of Kelly who she saw all the time anyway. Or Gabriella could become a doctor like she wanted and they’d see each other at least in passing while on the job and every night when they came home. Gabriella could teach Leslie to cook, Leslie could teach her how to be good at something other than soccer and they’d been friends long enough to know how to nip petty arguments in the bud. 

She closed her eyes and pictured it. The first part wasn’t difficult since most of it had just happened, the coming home and eating part that is. She imagined Leslie teasing her and teasing back, of what she would’ve done if Leslie hadn’t kissed the side of her head but instead her lips. She would’ve returned it of course, as her wife. Leslie liked to take charge so she’d probably have Gabriella on her back at first, but Gabriella knew things.

She knew that Leslie wasn’t ticklish on her stomach and in fact she liked having thumbs pressed into her waist and fingers (“unless they’ve got claws”) rubbing at her sides and back. She liked being on top, of feeling herself pressed between a woman’s legs while she got them off. Gabriella had walked in on her accidentally a couple times and she was always in that position. She knew that when she was turned on her teeth clenched and her voice lowered and that she talked a big talk, but moaned loud enough for Kelly to complain about at the firehouse when the tables were turned.

There were things she didn’t know that she’d have to figure out. Did Leslie like it as rough as she claimed, for one, or was she a pillow princess beneath the sheets? After all the years they’d been friends together she still didn’t know what it was like to kiss her, the taste and scent of her up close, or the intimate quirks not even the best of friends told one another at the end of the day.

“Leslie?” she whispered.

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

“Love you too, Gab.”

It was the first time they’d called one another their first names since they met.

  
~*~  
The first time they kissed was the first time they had sex which was on the first night of Leslie and Kelly’s “No women or bars” pact. The pair had been dating the same woman for a month and she’d gotten away with it by meeting them at separate bars and getting the first one drunk enough to pass out before the second one got home. It wasn’t the first time something like this had happened in their friendship and, after having some sort of lesbro empowerment talk that ended in a fist bump to seal the deal, Leslie had called Gabriella to fill her in and let her know that Kelly was planning a celebratory dinner.

“Why don’t we go to that Cary Grant re-run at Cineplex and try out the new Korean Bar instead?”

“No bars.”

“It’s not really a bar.”

“We made a pact.”

“Fine, uhm, Cineplex and I’ll make the chicken spinach thing from last week.”

“Deal!” The phone was muffled but Gabriella could hear, “Told you she would!” followed by an enthusiastic reply from she could guess who.

But Kelly ended up meeting one of his old college friends outside Cineplex and promised to be back in time, but wasn’t. Whenever Kelly and Tiger hung out it ended up with them talking about hunting and politics; a walk through the park on the way to pick up stuff for dinner was infinitely more appealing to Leslie.

“Only if you don’t mind?”

“No, let’s do it.”

“Great. That guy gets under my skin. Severide never watches the news, but the minute he gets around him he turns into Anderson Cooper. Tiger. Who names their kid that? I knew it was fake the second I met him.”

“You know that certainly sounds like jealousy to me,” Gabriela quoted, putting her hands in her pockets and pulling a straight face. “Don’t be ashamed of it. Let it out.”

Leslie smiled, linking their arms, “You’re a singular girl.”

Gabriela let her rant a little longer about Tiger before changing the subject. Matthew was still being completely oblivious and Leslie jumped at the chance to tell her how bad she was at flirting.

“You’ve got be more forward, girl, you’re smoking hot.”

“What are you even saying? Casey‘s married.”

“Yeah and he checks you out all the time. He’s never brought it up because you never bring it up and you never bring it up because he’s never brought it up. You guys are like a soap opera.”

“Excuse you, your life _is_ a soap opera. Who was that one night stand you almost hooked up with twice because she had plastic surgery and you didn’t recognize her?”

“She had a brand new nose and green contacts...and she dyed her hair.”

“She was living at the same address!”

“Which I realized when we were driving back to her place.”

“At which point you had the great idea of staging a heart attack and calling me so the last time she saw you was being rolled into an ambulance.“ Leslie giggled at the memory. “Then you changed your number and stayed with your cousin while she drove past your apartment every night and every morning to bother Severide because she saw you on a date with that red head who used to live next to me. Oh yeah and remember what happened with her?”

“Weren’t we talking about your intimacy problems? I distinctly remember talking about your intimacy problems.”

They carried on like that, accidentally passing up the grocery store which they realized only after they arrived at Leslie and Kelly’s place. Gabriela offered to wing it with dinner so they headed inside. Leslie turned on the game system while Gabriela hunted for edibles, coming up with empty take out containers and energy drinks. She pulled the trash bin closer and started clearing a path through the fridge. When she came back it was with a bottle of alcohol and a pint of ice cream.

Leslie wrinkled her nose, “I thought you were going to cook?”

“I thought you were an adult with grown up ingredients.” She held out a spoon. “Looks like we were both wrong.”

“I’ll take this,” Leslie grabbed the spoon, curling a bit of the ice cream onto it and gesturing at the bottle, “you can keep that.”

“Why? You guys swore of bars not booze, right?”

“Yes, but the spirit of the pact was spending less time getting drunk with hot chicks. Hop on, I want to two time this boss Severide got stuck on. That’ll teach him to ditch me for Tigger.”

“Tiger.”

“Whatever.”

Gabriela hated video games with a fiery passion (growing up with an overzealous brother who hogged the set put her off them), but she picked up the controller anyway. Leslie knew what she was doing and mostly needed Gabriela to steer attention away from her while she built up energy for some sort of lightening punch-kick that turned their opponent into chunks of yellow and green rubble.

Thankfully, the ending theme song reminded Leslie of an artist she’d forgotten to mention on the walk back. She found the album and set it up on the sound system, her legs falling across Gabriella’s lap while it played. Gabriella rubbed the middle of her foot absently, waiting a few songs in before finally asking,

“So I’m a hot chick, huh?”

“The hottest. Can you do my calves while you’re down there?”

“Only if you drive Lynnwood from now on.”

“Deal.”

Gabriela reached a hand up through Leslie’s pant leg, squeezing and rubbing at the muscles she found. On cue Leslie relaxed into the cushions, head turning to the side on the arm of the couch.

“Do you really mean it, when you say stuff like that?”

“Mm, stuff like what?” Her eyes were closed which was a good thing since Gabriela had never been so red in her life.

“Like that I’m a hot, or when you call me wifey, or say I’m too good for Casey.”

“You are too good for Casey.” She made the ’mm’ sound again and Gabriela’s breath caught in her throat. “He‘s a total Beaver Cleaver.”

“Leslie.”

She opened her eyes and Gabriela’s gaze flicked over her slightly parted lips then back up before she leaned forward and kissed her. Leslie kissed her back, flicked and dipped her tongue into her mouth and hauled her closer. Just like Gabriella imagined Leslie eventually tilted forward until Gabriella was on her back and kissed her neck while nudging her legs apart. Gabriella looked up at Leslie whose lips were in a half smile, showing only the left side of her teeth, the smile that meant she was ecstatic but trying to keep it in check, so she didn’t let on how happy she was. She grabbed the back of Gabriella’s legs and brought her forward, reaching for the zipper on her slacks.

“Is this okay?”

“Kiss me again.”

Gabriela put her heart into it, channeled all the fantasies, flirtatious winks and lingering touches into one passionate kiss that left Leslie stunned with hands that shook a little as she pushed up Gabriela’s shirt and left hungry kisses down her front.

Nothing. Gabriela felt absolutely nothing.

“Kiss me again,” she whispered when Leslie was inside her and she felt as empty as if she wasn’t touching her at all.

~*~  
“Hey.” Kelly bounced in his shoes. “Oh man I knew it, I knew it. Wow. Congrats.” Then his brain caught up with eyes: Leslie asleep on the couch, her hand dangling off the edge and Gabriela with one shoe off and her purse in hand. “Why don’t you look as happy as I feel?”

“Severide.”

“Fuck, Dawson, how could you?”

“I’m just not,” she stumbled over the words Leslie hated to hear, “attracted to her like that.”

“Attracted enough to sleep with her, though, right? Because I think we both know Shay would never cross that line.” He kept glaring at her, fists clenched at his side. “Girls like you are the reason we made that pact.”

On the couch Leslie murmured something incoherent and rubbed her nose into the pillow. Gabriela stuffed the laces into her shoe.

"I've gotta go," she whispered and walked past him with her arms crossed and her head down.

Leslie gave a loud yawn and sat up, pulling a shirt over her head as she looked around sleepily, her sights falling on Kelly.

“You seen Dawson?”

“Why?” He started towards the kitchen, hands still balled up. “She spend the night?”

Leslie frowned shaking off sleep and trying to make her shrug as nonchalant as possible to cover up the unsteadiness in her voice. "Guess not."

“Shay?”

She sniffed, reaching for her phone which was buzzing on the counter, “Yeah?”

“Want some breakfast?”

“No,” she read the subject line of the message ( _I am so so sorry_ ) and deleted it, “I’m not hungry.”

 

 


End file.
